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Online Teaching. What You Need to Know b y: Sean Boettinger. Online Teaching vs. Traditional Teaching. Research has shown that faculty members believe there are very few differences between teaching online and teaching in a traditional classroom (Keeton, 2004). What Do Y ou T hink?.
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Online Teaching What You Need to Know by: Sean Boettinger
Online Teaching vs. Traditional Teaching • Research has shown that faculty members believe there are very few differences between teaching online and teaching in a traditional classroom (Keeton, 2004).
What Do You Think? • Do you think there are similarities between teaching online and teaching in traditional, face-to-face environment? If so, what are they? • What do you think the differences are between teaching online and teaching face-to-face, if any?
What You Need to Know • Tip 1: COMMUNICATION Get used to communicating with your students on a daily basis in the online classroom (Keeton, 2004).
Communication • As an online instructor, you will need to communicate with your students regularly in the classroom. This includes responding to students’ email, responding to discussion posts, answering students’ questions, contacting students who “lurk” or are falling behind, providing qualitative, effective feedback, and communicating course and behavioral expectations in the classroom (Grant &Thornton, 2007).
Communication • Reply to students in a timely manner both in discussion forums and in private. Make sure to acknowledge every discussion post by every student. Provide weekly summaries of course content and important concepts on the main page of the course. In addition, provide examples of acceptable discussion posts (Moore & Kearsley, 2005).
What You Need to Know • Tip 2: ACCESSIBILITY Be accessible. Students have a higher expectations of their online instructors being accessible to help them than they do with face-to-face instructors(Keeton, 2004).
Accessibility • As an online instructor, you will need to create office hours and make yourself accessible for students who need to meet with you. Making yourself accessible includes providing your contact information and being available during those specific times you set as your office hours. Online students want and expect immediate feedback and assistance from their online instructors (Keeton, 2004).
Accessibility • Conduct teleconferences or computer-based conferences. This will allow you to humanize yourself to your students. Create a biography with a picture of yourself and require your students to do this as an icebreaker activity (Moore & Kearsley, 2005).
What You Need to Know • Tip 3: ENVIRONMENT Personalizing the online environment is important. Encouraging messages, pictures, and files should be integrated into the classroom to make students feel welcome (Keeton, 2004).
Environment • Create a comfortable environment for students. Include welcome messages and pictures. Encourage students to participate and to cooperate with one another (Grant & Thornton, 2007). Promote positivity in the classroom by providing effective and encouraging feedback. Encourage active learning (Grant & Thornton, 2007) and encourage students to reach their goals!
Environment • Model good behavior and require students behave professionally in the online environment. Create an area where students can acknowledge they have read and understood proper online etiquette. Read all discussion posts and delete any negative posts. Keep a record of those posts and follow the procedures developed by the school. (Moore & Kearsley, 2005).
What You Need to Know • Tip 4: ORGANIZATION Stay organized! Many online instructors have cited that staying organized is essential (Keeton, 2004).
Organization • Make sure you know all important calendar dates in relation to the course you are teaching. Create a place where you can focus. Keep good records of student attendance and any feedback you provide. Keep records of emails and other correspondence. As my experience as an online instructor, staying organized contributes to being an effective online instructor.
Organization • If you will be teaching the same course, save all introductory messages in each module. You will be able to use these when you teach the course again. Save all pictures and media files. Save all rubrics and other pertinent information to be reused if you are to teach the course again. Make a list of all important contacts and create a folder for these contacts. This will save you time the next time you teach the course!
What You Need to Know • Tip 5: KNOW THE TECHNOLOGY Know what programs you will be using as an online instructor. You do not need to be an expert in utilizing technology (Ko & Rossen, 2004).
Know the Technology • While you do not need to be an expert in utilizing technology, you do need to know how instruction will be delivered. Will it be entirely online? Will it be hybrid? Know what platform will be used.
Know the Technology • Have access to a computer or a device with access to the Internet. Have access to other tools needed to facilitate the online classroom. Know basic functions such as setting up folders, using word processing software, and email (Ko & Rossen, 2004). Know who to contact should you have any issues using the technology.
What You Need to Know • Tip 6: KNOW YOUR STUDENTS Get to know your students. Read their biographies, look at their pictures, call them, and email them.
Know Your Students • Call your students and ask them if they have access to a computer and Internet. You might be surprised to find out that many do not. Make sure you stay in contact with these students and provide them suggestions on how they can access a computer and Internet to complete assignments.
In Conclusion… • Teaching online can be a very rewarding experience. By remember the following tips, you will be a successful online instructor. 1) Communicate 2) Be accessible 3) Create an inviting environment 4) Stay organized 5) Know the technology 6) Know your students
References Grant, M. & Thornton, H. (2007). Best practices in undergraduate adult-centered online learning: Mechanisms for course design and delivery. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(4), 346-356. Retrieved from http://jolt.merlot.org/documents/grant.pdf Keeton, M. (2004). Best online instructional practices: Report of phase I of an ongoing study. JALN, 8(2), 75-100. Retrieved from https://files.pbworks.com/download/elvcsE8lLW/wcpss/32172348/BP%20 Online.pdf Ko, S. & Rossen, S. (2004). Teaching online: A practical guide. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin. Moore, M. & Kearsley, G. (2005). Distance education: A systems view.